i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. thanks for your talkback responses. no time for them this morning but i will read each and every one. i'm carol costello. thank you for joining me. >> hello, everyone. i'm ashley. it is 11:00 on the east coast and 8:00 on the west coast. good morning to you, california! how about that debate last night? you didn't catch that long awaited first-ever head-to-head matchup between president and his republican challenger, the obama camp is probably somewhat grateful that you didn't. but if you did catch it, you may not be surprised by numbers like these. two-thirds of debate watchers polled by cnn and orc believe that mitt romney bested the president. that is the biggest win of any

presidential debater since we first started asking the questions of that back in 1984. check out this number. 82% said that mitt romney did better than they expected, but only 1 in 10 said he did worse. as for the president's performance, 6 in 10 say that he did worse than expected. just 2 in 10 said he actually did better. cnn's dana bash joins me now with more about the stats and the sound bites and to borrow a line from our friend and our colleague james carville, the president wanted a conversation, but mitt romney showed up with a chain saw. how are things going within the various xamps today and how is everybody breaking this down? the narrative today. >> the narrative today is simply that, you know, going into yesterday, there were republicans talking about maybe it's time to put resources towards getting the senate back

in congress and, you know, some people leaving romney for political dead. that is not the narrative today. does the fact that mitt romney did exceptionally well last night, particularly up against president obama who just kind of not -- didn't seem like he was there? does that uh change voters minds? you knowthat is really unclear at this point. what is clear is when it comes to the fuel that keeps a campaign like mitt romney going, whether it's activists or grassroots voters, donors, those are the people who are excited and especially going into the last five weeks of the campaign. mitt romney needs that big time. >> i'm not sure, dana, how much this plays into everything. but when barack obama is on the campaign stump, some of the things that he uses are very effective with the audience. he gets a lot of feedback from that campaign stump. and when he brought that game into that auditorium last night and started to talk about things like, you know, like ending tax breaks and getting people back

to work, it seemed like those things backfired with a very powerful mitt romney standing next to him. let me show you exactly what i mean and i want to ask you about it on the other side. >> part of the way to do is to not give tax breaks to companies that are shipping shops overseas. right now, you can actually take a deduction for moving a plan overseas. i think most americans would say that doesn't make sense and all of that raises revenue. >> you said you debt a deduction for take ago plant overseas? look. i've been in business 25 years. i have no idea what you're talking about. i maybe need to get a new accountant but the idea that you get a break for shipping jobs overseas is simply not the case. what we do have right now is bringing money overseas back to this country. >> dana, if he was trying to, you know, articulate some good policy there, it seemed like he just kept getting smacked down. whereas on the campaign trail, he is not getting the smack downs. >> what you just play is so -- for two reasons.

one on the substance what you're speaking to. that -- that president obama just did not make his point as articulately as he normally does or could have in that segment. also when it comes to style. you saw president talking to the crowd, talking to the people at home. mitt romney talked right to president obama, addressed him by name as mr. president. this was a very deliberative thing and deliberate thing that mitt romney did. no question that's something that he practiced. you know, we know he spent countless hours of practicing and preparing and it just sort of shows you that it's not just what people say or die say in these debates, it's how they say it. it's their body language. it's -- it's the way they look and absolutely kril to the overall feel. you know, i've been talking a lot and looking at this debate a lot, especially the morning after, and it's pretty clear there wasn't necessarily a win or loss because of a zinger, it was the overall feel that mitt romney was really present and

president obama really wasn't. >> dana bash, i have your assignment from here going forwards and that is that 47% of folks asked said the debate did not influence their vote one way or another. so you have something to work with coming out of this. dana, thanks. before the dust even settled from this first presidential debate, there were a lot of pundits weighing in and already telling us exactly who won. >> american people thought that the president would win this first debate. and he lost. mitt romney came prepared to play. he drove the debate. i sense the president never been talked to like this over the last four years. >> i think the president just didn't seem like he wanted to debate romney. again, he never mentioned 47% meaning mitt romney critical, awful remarks about obama supporters. never mentioned bain capital. >> i think he was off his game tonight. president obama, he wanted to have a conversation. takes two people to have a

conversation. mitt romney came there with a chain saw and he is trying talk to a chain saw. >> where was obama right now? i love the split screen. he did it just right. i'm coming at an incumbent. you got to beat the champ and i'm going to beat him tonight! >> that is matthews and carville saying these things. those five pundits and a slew of other agreeing that president obama stumbled and badly at last night's debate. for obama supporters, the big question this morning is what the heck just happened? can you chalk this up to the fact the incumbent often does not perform well in the first debate? that is just a fact. the incumbent does not often perform well in the first debate. remember how badly george bush came off in the first debate with john kerry in '04? all of the debates were in john kerry's favor in '04. was it perhaps that president obama wasn't prepared? busy campaigning and did he perhaps let the prep slide? did he go into the debate with a

game plan that the best offense is a good defense? finally, can barack obama get back into a winning mode? the polls were looking good going into this, right? you got two remaining debates with romney. we are going to get some answers and smeperspective from charles blow. i read your column and i know how you feel about this. give me the quick one-liner how you thought last night went? >> obama lost. i play basketball in high school and you're not in your best form and you lose it. doesn't mean you lose the election and the other guy is better. just means you danny show up that night and didn't do a good job. go back, look at the tape and practice hard and come back the next time and do a better job the next time. >> he let himself be interrupted. he didn't call out certain kinds of issues when mitt romney was able to walk through him and lay out a slew of stats.

>> they widon't call what mitt was saying is facts. >> fact checkers hit both of them pried hard. charles, is this a question of the president who is trying to remain presidential and elegant and eloquent? that didn't work like, you know, like we heard. you got to bring your chain saw to this kind of thing. >> that seemed to be a strategy. kind of stay above the fray. look presidential and talk directly to the american people and don't get into a fight with mitt romney on stage. but you have to -- i think you have to be a little bit more nimble than that. if the moderator does not step in and say, mr. romney, that is just not true what you just said, come back and ask follow-up questions. if that is not going to happen what is then your game plan? if mitt romney becomes much more aggressive and does not stick his foot in his mouth, which he tends to do and he doesn't do that in this time, what do you do? you have to have all of those contingencies and be nimble enough to react to all of that

and doesn't seem to happen last night for barack obama. he kept kind of talking to the american people, talking into the camera. i can only assume hoping that, you know, the fact check after the fact would do the kind -- the heavy lifteding of saying these things are not true that mr. romney said. >> we got our own fact checking segment coming up. i'm glad you promoed it for me. charles, quickly. as i was reading your column this morning. i spent five years at courttv. you mentioned this needs to be a closing argument and moving summation. it doesn't need to be sort of this layout of evidence when it comes to a debate. so where was the aggressive and passionate barack obama you see on the campaign trail? does he need to bring it at the next two debates? or does he need to keep slow and steady and win the race? >> well, it all depends, right? if mitt romney shows up and makes mistakes and a lot of gaffes, slow and steady looks really good. if mitt rom shows up like he did

last night and throws spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks, they lose you in numbers. you know some of those numbers are not true. you know the sum of what he is saying not true and yet you let him get away with that and interrupt you when you're making your point and on several occasions during this debate basically call you a liar and you never respond in kind. >> some of the spaghetti you're talking about. the arsenal of spaghetti he talked about, you talk about 47% of people being on welfare and victims here, he didn't attack him on bain which is the favorite of the campaign ads. it's the staple. he didn't attack him on releasing his tax returns. these are all things in the democrats arsenal. why didn't that come out? was accidental or was it intentional? >> i have no idea! if you could tell me, i would be really happy. people are stopping me the street this morning trying to ask me what happened to barack obama? barack obama has a chest full of

amnition to use against mitt romney. >> as does romney. >> as does romney, but romney was using what he had to whatever effect he could use it. what people were expecting was for barack obama to respond in kind. if you are being attacked, if you see somebody getting beat up on the side of the street and the guy doesn't fight back, you go, wow, that is just sad. like this guy just got beat up. why wouldn't he fight back and protect himself? barack obama was getting beat up. and he could have defended himself. it would have been a huge mistake for people to assume that barack obama is not effective at being able to communicate. he is very effective. knowing that and watching him not do what you know he is capable of doing was a very strange thing for most americans to see. >> got to wrap up it. charles blow, thanks for coming in. they both have attacks in their chest. if they are not using them, it's a debate, a battle. >> there you go. if you fell asleep, if you

forgot, if you were watching baseball because that was pretty good too the presidential debate will rerun on cnn in less than two hours. you can catch it again. good stuff. be a good voter and watch the stuff. it's really important. back in a moment. because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. -oh, that's just my buds. -bacon.

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love that music. i'm just nerdy that way. it dominated practically half of the presidential debate. the economy. issue number one for the voters. really. the polls tell us by a landslide. but there was a wholeeck of a lot of back and forth on those jobs numbers and even more on the ups and downs of the economy which is why we are going to do a little relate check on both president obama and mitt romney. cnn's tom foreman is fact checking all of those claims that they threw your way last night. >> reporter: the dominant issue of this entire campaign has been jobs, jobs, jobs. we have heard it over and over again. and that is the very first subject that both of the candidates tore into in this debate. >> the last 30 mints we have seen 5 million jobs in the private sector created. the auto industry has come

roaring back. and housing has begun to rise. >> they are suffering in this country. and we talk about evidence. look at the evidence in the last four years. it's absolutely extraordinary. we have got 23 million people out of work. >> reporter: this is the fundamental claim. barack obama says he has created 5 million jobs. mitt romney says not so much. let's look at the evidence and see what we can find. this is what the country looked like in 2009. barack obama's first full year in office. every state that looks brown out here is a state where they were losing jobs at the time. some of them very bad. look at ohio over here. 10.6% unemployment. gradually over the next few years jobs come in education and health care and business services and retail. every state that is lighter in color where they are no longer losing jobs or, in some cases, gaining jobs.

ohio, 7.2% unemployment now. that is better than the national average. the bureau of labor statistics says to make that happen, we, indeed, had to create a lot of jobs. how many? by their count? 4.4 million so far. but here is what is not mentioned much. 4.3 million were lost during the bad days. so the net gain is only about 125,000 and that falls short of the president's claim that he created 5 million jobs. it's just a little bit too much of a stretch. we have to call that claim false. even though many democrats will say in a heartbeat, look. he inherited a bad economy from george bush. many voters agree with that. nonetheless the numbers don't quite add up. what about mitt romney's claim about 23 million people unemployed? we need context and let me bring some tools up here to talk about this. median income in this country is about $51,000. here are categories we can look at. mid wage and low wage and high

wage and what most of the people in the country are making right now. if you consider what happened during the recession. look. everyone lost jobs but the low wage jobs did not lose as much. when the jobs started to come back, look what happened? the low wage rose the most. so amongst the jobs we lost or gained, basically, we lost better jobs than what we regained. you have to consider that if you wean even come clos to mitt romney's number of 23 million. he is saying everyone is unemployed and given up on looking for work and everybody who is part-time who would like to be full-time in all actuality, although that adds up to about 23 million he is doing the same thing barack obama is doing. stretching the numbers to the point of break so that is false too. let's just look at the overall question of real unemployment. can barack obama be reelected with the numbers he is facing? it's a tough, tough task. no question. look at the president been

reelected since the 1950s and the unemployment rates at that time. dwight eisenhower. 4.1% and nixon 5.6 considered huge at that time. bill clinton, 5.1 and second gush 5.4 and barack obama whopping 8.1% unemployment. august numbers for all of these president before they were ree lebted. very difficult for any president to carry a weight like that into a re-election campaign when barack obama was elected the first time it was historic. if he is elected again it will also be historic because no president has been reelected with that kind of number since franklin roosevelt. the waning days of the great depression.

i'm barack obama, and i approve this message. these appliances could have been made here in america. but a company called global tech maximized profits by paying its workers next to nothing... under sweatshop conditions in china. when mitt romney led bain, they saw global tech as a good investment... even knowing that the firm promoted its practice of exploiting... low-wage labor to its investors. mitt romney - tough on china? since when?

statistics and studies and numbers and facts thrown out last night in a 90-minute little period of time. for a lot of us it's a lot to process. but when you are able to process it and digest those numbers, two very different economic ideologies emerge from all of that rhetoric. that is why we hire ali velshi and why he comes to town.

makes sense of it all. here is the deal. big questions over the role of government when it comes to the economy. these two guys could not be further apart. did they make their case clear last night? >> it was part of the debate i enjoyed the most. i enjoyed the economic stuff. when it got to the role of golf, jim lehrer asked that and i thought they stated their case and mitt romney stated it well where he said he doesn't believe the federal government can do much that is better than the private sector can be left to do or individuals can do and barack obama, you know, he started by saying the major role of government is keeping its people safe. but that is a fundamental disagreement between conservatives and liberals. i think -- i don't know that too many people would have been confused about their answers or would have expected them to say something else but i think it's important that your vote this time around is determined by what role you think government should have. the key difference to remeer is in the last four years with the economic collapse, we live in a world, in a country where 71% of economic decisions are

directed by the american, by the voter, by the consumer. when that drops, because of the fact that people don't have money and they don't have jobs, who fills in for it? >> the fed. >> that is what some of the thinking is. the government should play a bigger role in difficult economic times. there are some conservatives who say, no, they are difficult economic times, people get unemployed and let the cycle. the problem with the cycle we don't know when it completes and there isn't any more government money. >> a template. >> it was a hardy discussion and i think they made their points. >> good and thorough. something that happened nice and early. >> big bird? >> that was just before i fell asleep. i will not talk about big bird with you because you're too smart with that. i want to talk $5 trillion in tax cuts. president obama repeated over and over the accusation that mitt romney is going to cut taxes by $5 trillion and mitt

romney kept coming back and saying what are you talking about? have a listen. >> governor romney's central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut on top of the extension of the bush tax cuts, another trillion dollars and two trillion in additional military spending that the military hasn't asked for. >> i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. that's not my plan. my plan is not to put in place any tax cut that will add to the deficit. >> ali velshi, whose pants are on fire? >> there were two distinct points here. one the 4.9 trillion is the real number that president obama called $5 trillion. there are going to be tax cuts because mitt romney proposes to cut 20% off everybody's taxes across the board. >> not 5 trillion. >> but it adds up to 4.9 the ten years that the number the president was citing. that assumes no revenue coming from anywhere else. mitt romney says that is not the right assumption. if i cut taxes across the board

and more money into piedmont acre pockets and spend more and have a lower tax rate and have more jobs and more own. >> stimulate the economy. >> and more money will come in. >> that is where the disagreement was. >> mitt romney does have some plans for cutting loopholes and some of these -- >> right. . he says we cut taxes and close loopholes and it becomes revenue neutral and president cited another studying saying you have to raise taxes on the middle class. that is why this becomes so hard to fact check one of these because they are both sort of saying things that are kind of true. >> let's switch to jobs. this doesn't have to do with the debate necessarily last night but it's critical. we have the big monthly jobs report tomorrow and we have some indicators -- >> two indicators. one is the adp a private sector report which historically has given you what is going on two days later and showed a big bump in private sector growth. the last couple of months it hasn't matched what happens on the unemployment report. then unemployment claims today.

last week, the number of people who first lined up for unemployment claims actually went up a tick. so the fact is we are looking at about 110 to 115,000 jobs, what economists predict on friday. the number for september. last month as you know was 96,000 a big disappointment. i think we come in on a hundred plus, president obama breathes a sigh of relief. >> a sigh of relief doesn't mean everybody else will have that. >> for those people who don't have jobs, it doesn't mean much. >> ali velshi, good to see you. nice to see you in person. make sure you watch tomorrow morning. when the numbers come in, we will go to town and take a close look at the jobs created around the country and the implications of the election, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth.

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of those who watched last night's debate, just 1 in 4 said

that president obama won the face-off. but do not tell that to his camp. because his camp is insisting that their candidate did the better job. but as they continue to spin this, they are surrounded this morning by a chorus and it is large and it is loud of people who just simply thought otherwise, including loads of democrats. so is the obama camp hearing all of the noise from those boxes and many other boxes? are they scrambling for a hangover cure or, instead, is this the strategy? slow and steady wins the race. our jessica yellin is with president as his campaign moves forward. she is at an event as we hear the campaign. what is the reaction? is the spin going to continue or are they going to tailor and re-tailor quickly. >> reporter: the spin will continue, ashley. their their reaction so far is pretty defensive and frustrated.

i frankly heard his campaign surrogates defend the president's performance. they say one night's performance doesn't matter that much and they focus and pivot to attacking mitt romney, arguing he was not honest in his answers. so i think what you're going to hear from the campaign is drilling down on what mitt romney said, trying to turn the focus on romney and his, quote, truthfulness, but that is not a defense of the president's performance and implicit acknowledgment he essentially wasn't that strong. >> let me play for you a comment that was made by jen sacky who is his campaign press secretary, because this defense was one of the most strident, i think i heard post-debate where she essentially says no way. this was a fabulous job -- let her say it and i want to ask you something on the other side. >> i don't think the american people make a judgment on who they are going to vote for by an poll coming out of a debate. they are not looking for an

attacker in chief which is what mitt romney was. they are looking for a commander commander in chief. the president's calm delivered performance and him laying out his policies and where he wanted to move the country forward. >> so, jessica. charles blow from "the new york times" who said earlier on this program the obama campaign must learn from this blunder, stronger is better. are they not listen toing to some of their -- some of the criticism out there comes from democrats and comes from cluc columnists. are they not listening it's nonbiased at this particular time. >> reporter: this is a difference what outsiders are saying and what the inside campaigner strategists believe. inside the campaign, they believe undecided voters who were at home who were watching the debate do not want to see the president go on the attack. and that they did not want to see an angry combative event last night and one of the reasons you didn't see the

president rise up and try to joust with mitt romney. the problem is he is the commander in chief. he has to defend his record and what we saw last night was performance that seemed a president who didn't seem ready and willing to defend his record, and so charles blow's point was he's got to stand up and fight a bit more. ashley ashley the next two weeks i predict he will be doing that. >> you're live in denver and where the campaign clearly continues very loudly behind you. stay with us. we have got lots of campaign coverage continuing. the rally in denver just past the top of the hour and bring that to you live as well and replay the debate at 1:00 eastern right here on cnn. back after this. ♪ lord, you got no reason ♪ you got no right ♪ ♪ i find myself at the wrong place ♪ [ male announcer ] the ram 1500 express.

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last night's debate is the talk today because everywhere you turn, voters and analysts weighing in on which candidate they think came out on top.

but it was just one debate. right? in a much bigger campaign, there is still two more presidential debates to go. so can one debate alone change the minds of voters, a change that sticks? john king decided to take a look at just that. the trending. here is an example of one that actually did just that. >> reporter: let's go back in history and take a look, wolf. let's start with 1980. watch the race play out in the polls here carter and reagan. he moved ahead of jimmy carter. a lot of people think this sealed the deal. >> are you better off than you were four years ago? is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? is america as respected throughout the world as it was?

>> reporter: ronald reagan sealing the deal in his bid against jimmy carter. >> there you go. for the differences in substance and philosophy, barack obama and mitt romney clearly have one thing in common -- neither of these men likes to be muzzled. >> the last point i'd make -- >> two minutes is up, sir. >> no. i think i had five seconds before you interrupted me. was -- >> jim, the president began this segment so i think i get the last word. >> no. you get the first word in the next segment. >> but he gets the first word of that segment and i get the last word of that segment. let me make this comment. >> the president spoke four minutes longer than his opponent did last night but they don't give prizes away for that. joining me with what matters is the mainstay of political coverage is wolf blitzer. a man who doesn't sleep. this has to be a moment in

politic where team obama is saying is this the right strategy, given what happened last night? >> well, it clearly was the wrong strategy for the president last night. he had plenty of opportunities to try political points. but some of the most impressive lines that he's had out of the campaign trail, he ignored last night which was inexplicable. we didn't hear him once refer to the 47% and we didn't hear him talk about the cayman islands or mitt romney's taxes only paying 14% in income over these many years refusing to release 20 years of income tax returns. so many of the things that the president keeps -- and his campaign underline in their advertising in the battleground states against mitt romney, he was silent on. i don't understand that. and i'm sure a lot of his supporters don't understand that as well. he's got a lot of work to do to

get ready for the next debate. >> speaking of work. yeah. he's got some practice clearly. it's now a blur and i almost forgot how many primary debates that were in the republican primary, but going back, it's 22! mitt romney had 22 bites at this apple before coming to that podium last night. so is this a case of practice really is critical even if you're an eloquent public speaker like the president is? >> right. practice is very important. whether you're a tennis player or a celloist, you got to practice. if you want to be a good debater you have to practice. clearly the sessions the president had with john kerry filling in for mitt romney and his advisers they didn't serve the president well clearly because he wasn't ready for that debate last night. as i was watching it like anyone else watching it, i was saying to myself why isn't he going on the offensive? i moderated four obama debates in the last cycle four years ago

including one-on-one debate at the kodak theater with hillary clinton and barack obama, one of their last debates before he won the democratic presidential nomination. you know, he wasn't a fabulous debater but he was solid and when he had to he went after her and went after john edwards and the other democratic candidates but over the past four years he has been president and clearly not involved in these kind of debates and his advisers should have been better prepared and they have have worked with him a the although more to get ready and they have have studied. mitt romney was a very good debater and i did three debates this time where he really undermined rick perry or rick santorum or newt gingrich. he knew how to do it and it was underlined last well. >> the voters better hope they are not going to the polls today and -- or doing the early voting. >> still two mow presidential

debates -- more presidential debates and vice presidential debates. there is a flip side of saying the president will get re-elected. four and a half weeks to go. a lot can change and a lot presumably will change and no means over and it's going to the wire in florida and ohio and virginia. >> we like to invite you to tune in "the situation room" at 4:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level.

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obama care is on my list. i apologize, mr. president. >> if you reveal p.m. care and i have become fond of this term,

obama care. as you heard, president obama is embracing and even owning the phrase obama care. it was just a glimpse at president obama and mitt romney's battle over health care last night but it got a lot deeper than that. obama care and medicare and medicaid and private insurance and preexisting conditions and lions and tigers and bears all of it fair game on the debate floor. >> no change for current retirees and retirees to medicare and the president supports taking 716 billion out of that program. >> it wouldn't keep up with health care inflation. it was estimated it would cost the average consumer 600,000 a year. >> it would cost more than than traditional insurance. >> everybody has shown it has lowered than private insurance

does. >> it makes your head spin especially since it came late in the debate. sifting through all of that is a mixed bag of truths and i hate to say it, big lies. our senior medical correspondent is here to break down the fact from the fiction, elizabeth cohen. lep me sort through the biggest claim i kept hearing. 716 billion. he is going to gut it and take it and steal it. what is the real story behind the 716 billion? okay. so romney says that obama care cut 716 billion dollars out of medicare and seniors will suffer because of it. so one man's cut is another man's savings. obama says, no, no. i'm saving $716 billion. that's a good thing. that makes this a much more affordable plan as time goes on and he says this 716 billion is spread out over ten years and that hospitals will feel it instead of and excuse my hand here instead of the rate of payments go up like this, it

would go up like this. >> nice graphics. >> we didn't have a real one so i did it on my own. he is saying beneficiaries seniors won't feel the cuts, hospitals will. romney and others say if hospitals are spending less money on seniors they will feel it eventually. it's impossible to note who is right about this because it hasn't happened yet. >> makes sense to me. the other claim is mitt romney suggesting that his plan for medicine includes some of the more popular parts of obama care. particularly the preexisting conditions. but is that true? how much of what he says when he says, look. my plan incorporates the best stuff of obama's but not the worst. how much is true? >> first of all, it makes people say if you're incorporating the goodies who is paying for the goodies? he is saying we will cover people with preexisting conditions but dot not do the nasty stuff people don't like to pay for ten raises that question. he said, look. when people with preexisting conditions go out and buy insurance on their own, not through their employer but on

their own, they are now told no or charge some ridiculous amount of money because no one wants to insure them, they are expensive. he says i will protect you and make sure you get affordable insurance with one caveat. if you can prove you have had continuous insurance coverage in the past. if you can show you've had -- hand again. if you can show that you've had continuous insurance coverage in the past. but i asked his spokesperson, what does that mean? you have to have it for ten years, from the day you were born and how long has that passed? they didn't answer my question. if it was a long past, that could be a problem no forsome people. >> get me to the next nugget. the government board is going to make all sorts of decisions regarding the treatments that you can have under obama care. that is the claim from mitt romney. is that true? a government board will actually make decisions? because the obama camp says just not true at all. >> this is called the independent payment advisory board. and romney kind of makes it sound like uncle sam is going to

come into your hospital room or this is only seniors. so mrs. smith's hospital room and says i know your doctor says you need a hip replacement and i'm government and you do not. this is not what this board is going to be let me tell you what it is going to be. if midcare p getting crazy and high and out of hand, this board will sit down and say are we overpaying for certain kinds of procedures? are we letting hospitals charge us way too much money for, let's say, a routine hip replacement, and if they are, if they're charging us too much money, let's say they're charging us just to be silly, $100 for hip replace am, maybe we'll -- >> it's a little more than an hour from now.

>> last night'sresidential debate was viewed by conservativetively 50 million viewers. i would really like to think that this is the only place people get their news. come on. facebook today said it had passed the one billion active viewer mark, and the tweets and googles and youtubes. let's not forget all hose. what was being googled the most last night? the number one search simpson-bowles, dodd-frank, who is winning the debate, and look at number four. big bird. i'm going to stop right there. to explain big bird. it might have been the moment of the debate. listen to what mitt romney said and then the youtube reaction to it. >> well, first of all, i will eliminate all programs by this test if they don't pass it. is the program so critical it's

worth borrowing money from china to pay for it, and if not, i'll get rid of it. i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. i'm going to stop other things, and i like pbs, and i love big bird. i like you too, but i'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for it. [ screaming ] >> okay. the last part definitely doctored. we're just guessing that. fake big bird got right on to twitter in no time. by this morning big bird had almost 25,000 followers. look what big bird has been tweeting out. i like being able to fire people and large talking birds, mitt romney. 47% of chick-fil-a chickens think their victims -- birds of a feather collect food stamps together. mitt romney. i'm about to fly south for the tax season. caymen islandsbound, hash tag. breaking news, donald trump deman's to see big bird hatched eggs certificate. big bird is now trending big on social media. just take a look at some of the

photoshop that is we've pulled up from the internet and there are hundreds. that's my favorite right there. we to cut off the expletive at the bottom. the mentions of big bird increased by nearly 800,000% after mitt romney's comment last night, and it is also the next most popular term on facebook after romney, obama, and debate. occupy sesame street. some are even hoping for a big bird run in 2016. it's actually pretty darn fun where i. if you have a chance to go to the internet. >> she responded to mitt romney's plan to withdraw funding for pbs. >> the problems facing our country, the fact that we are the focus is just unbelievable to me. particularly given the fact that, you know, in another part

of the debate, the -- both candidates talked about the importance of education. we're america's biggest classroom. we touch children across the country in every home, whether you have books many your home or computers or not. almost everyone has a television set. so we're able to bring kids across the country not just enjoyable programming, but programs that really help them prepare and get ready for school. with core curriculum in math and science and literacy, so the fact that we're in this debate, this is not about the budget. it has to be about politics. >> newsroom international begins right after this break. diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the rular life. phillips'.

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